Consumers and businesses face a growing tide of malicious software that threatens the stability and performance of their computers and the security of their data. For example, computer programmers with malicious intent have created and continue to create and propagate viruses, Trojans, spyware, worms, and other programs (collectively known as “malware”) in an attempt to compromise computer systems.
Security researchers estimate that the majority of the malware generated today is deployed and/or proliferated via the Internet. In view of this, many security-software firms offer (either as a stand-alone application or as part of a larger suite of security applications) various network-security applications that monitor, control, and thus secure the network activity of a computing device. Unfortunately, some computing platforms (especially mobile computing platforms, such as APPLE IOS and GOOGLE ANDROID devices) do not permit or allow the installation of traditional network-security applications, leaving these devices exposed to the various dangers of the Internet.